1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parts feeding apparatus and parts feeding process for feeding a plurality of different kinds of parts to be assembled into a predetermined piece of work.
2. Description of the Related Art
In case a precise and complex device such as the mechanical deck of a tape recorder or VTR is to be assembled, a plurality of kinds of parts are assembled by an assembling robot which is usually fed with the parts by a parts feeding apparatus. The number of parts to be assembled by the prior art assembling robot is usually limited to one or two, for example.
This type of parts feeding apparatus is exemplified by a parts feeder, a tray changer, a magazine feeder or a hoop feeder. One or two of these parts feeding arrangements is usually included in the assembling robot. The thus built in parts feeding apparatus feeds the assembling robot with the parts for assembly therein.
However, this type of parts feeding apparatus is almost always arranged to handle specific type of parts whereby when the parts to be assembled are changed in accordance with a change in the kind of device being assembled, the parts feeding apparatus and the robotic hands have to be manually changed or adjusted. Thus, the following problems arise with the prior art parts feeding apparatus.
In the case fourteen kinds of parts (for example) are to be assembled to form a given piece of work, fourteen different parts feeding apparatus have to be used and thus enlarges total size of the arrangement drastically. Further, in order to allow the assembling robot to take the individual parts from the fourteen different parts feeding, the robot has to have a large operating range so that its body is accordingly enlarged.
If, on the other hand, one or two parts are to be assembled in one assembling robot cell by dividing the steps, the line space is enlarged to deteriorate the space efficiency. In order to minimize the feeding interval (or time) and number of the parts, moreover, the parts to be stocked in the parts feeding apparatus has to be retained in a proper amount, thus increasing the parts stock in the assembly line. At the time of changing the device kinds, on the other hand, the parts feeding apparatus and the robot hands of the assembling robot have to be time consumingly manually exchanged and adjusted.
Therefore, the present invention has been conceived to solve the above-specified problems and has an object to provide a parts feeding apparatus capable of sparing space, reducing the parts stock in the line and easily coping with a change in the device being assembled.